The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley Jr. This is Lacerre Bradley Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Here in the early part of this new year, I still think back about the wonderful blessings enjoyed in the year past that we were able to keep the program on so many stations and on the internet and that we were hearing from people from a variety of sources who say that the Lord has used the messages to be a blessing. And I particularly want to say again to all of you who have helped to support the work that we're grateful for it and desire your prayers as we go forward in this new year.
The need is great and we appreciate all the help we can get. You can address your letter to the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And you can also go to our website and make a donation there at BaptistBibleHour.org and at the website you can read The Baptist Witness and also listen to both the Sunday and daily programs. All fear is gone Because I know He holds a future And life is worth the living just because He lives God sent His Son They called Him Jesus He came to love, heal and forgive He lived and died to buy my pardon An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know He holds a future And life is worth the living just because He lives Yes, my life is worth the living just because He lives Because He lives In the early part of this new year, we have a tendency to look ahead and think, wonder what this year will bring forth. What are we going to encounter? Well, one thing we can be sure of, as long as we're in this world, there will be trials and difficulties to face. So what better theme to think about at the moment than this one we're using today, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. So whatever may come our way, no matter how frail and weak we know ourself to be, we can do the things that need to be done through the strength that's given us in Jesus Christ. As you read the scriptures, you listen to preaching, you sing the hymns of the faith, you're made constantly aware that afflictions are a part of the Christian's life. You find David the psalmist saying, it was good for me that I've been afflicted.
And generally we would say, as we want to concur with every teaching of scripture, that we embrace that because it is specifically taught in the Word of God. And yet, when that day of affliction comes, it sometimes is difficult to lay hold of the things that we have previously acknowledged to be so. It comes at a difficult time.
The question often is asked, why now? I had plans in order, I had things I wanted to do, I thought they were important things. Sometimes it's a desire to be engaged in some activity in the service of God and say, now, here this trial comes and I'm not able to go forward as I thought that God was leading me. And then, if pain is a part of that affliction, it becomes difficult to stay focused. When you have extreme pain, you say, I'm just having difficulty in my prayer life. I always thought that these trials would be a time of spiritual refreshment, a time of spiritual growth. But when you're hurting, when the difficulty is severe, you have a real challenge trying to think right, respond as you know a Christian ought to respond. So I want us to look at a portion today where the Apostle Paul is talking about some of his suffering and how he responded.
Turn to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter 12, reading beginning with verse 7, and lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that were given to me of thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for me, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and necessities, in persecutions and distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
All sufficient grace. Paul prayed three times for this thorn in the flesh to be removed, and it's acceptable to pray that kind of a prayer. When you're hurting, when you're sick, when you're troubled, when the burdens of life are pressing down on you, there is nothing wrong with praying, Lord deliver me from them. Heal my body.
Relieve me of this pain. Even Jesus prayed, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But he said, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Now obviously Paul was intense in this prayer because he prayed three times.
And I don't think that suggests that you're limited to pray three times. But after he had sought the Lord earnestly, fervently, three times, Lord, remove the thorn in the flesh. The answer came. It wasn't what he asked for.
It wasn't what he was expecting. The thorn was not removed, but God did answer his prayer. He answered, the Lord says, my grace is sufficient for thee. First then, let's look at the source of this affliction. The thorn was part of God's plan. Some have translated the original word to be a stake rather than a thorn, which apparently is in the meaning of the original language. We may think of just a small thorn off of a rose bush, which could be painful enough.
But a stake driven into your flesh would be almost unbearable. So the source of this affliction was not something that just happened to be. This was some unexpected event. This is something upon which the apostles stumbled and had to ask God's help. This was something that was arranged by God himself. Our sovereign God sends affliction.
He says, this messenger of Satan was sent to buffet me, to cause my way to be extremely difficult, to cause me pain. And there's all kinds of speculation about what this thorn in the flesh might have been. Some writers have speculated that it was a problem with his eyes because he made reference to that in another place. Some have talked about a variety of diseases that it might have been.
On the speculation goes, but there's no need to spend time on that because the scriptures don't reveal exactly what it was. And I think there's a purpose for that. If it did specify, then we would discount it and say, well my case is totally different. But we don't know exactly what it was and so the application can be made in all of our lives no matter what our circumstances may be. The fact is then that we learn here and elsewhere that our sovereign God does send affliction. Even the messenger of Satan or at times Satan himself. See that in the book of Job chapter 1. Job had appeared before the Lord and it was the Lord himself that brought up the subject of Job. He said, have you considered my servant? I've heard people argue that God had nothing to do with Job's affliction, that it was all from Satan. Do you think God was surprised at what transpired and what the outcome was?
Certainly not. God is never surprised. When he said, have you considered my servant Job? He knew exactly what was in view. And Satan said, well of course Job serves you because you built a fence around him.
You've prospered him. Take that all away and he'll curse you to your face. In Job chapter 1 verse 12, the Lord said unto Satan, behold all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself put not forth thine hand, so Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. The Lord said, alright Satan, you can take away his wealth. You can even take away his family, which he did.
Ten children died at one time. So I never thought about Satan being used to accomplish something that God had in view. But see it's because our thinking is often very limited to our human reasoning rather than to take explicitly what the word of God says. Well, Job responded very well in this first round. So Satan comes back, chapter 2 and verse 6, and the Lord said unto Satan, behold he is in thine hand, but save his life. Now he brings the boils. He's in absolute misery from head to toe.
He's full of these sores. He's out there scraping himself trying to get some kind of relief and his wife comes and says, why don't you curse God and die? The point is that these scriptures are very explicit that this was no accident. This was something that God designed. This was in harmony with his plan, an arrangement for Job.
There were going to be lessons learned. There was going to be a record of this experience put in the inspired scriptures that would be a benefit to us even today. So there is always a purpose in view when God brings affliction into our life. Back in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, let's look now at verse 1.
It is not expedient for me, doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell.
God knoweth. It's interesting how people will raise questions periodically about things that the scriptures explicitly say are not revealed. Bad people ask, well in what form do you think the apostle Paul entered into heaven? Well Paul, he didn't know himself. He said, I don't know whether I was in the body or out of the body. But he knew that he had a special revelation from God.
Such and one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words. And believe it or not, people will speculate about what he heard. He said, what I heard is unspeakable. He's not going to try to write about it. He's not going to try to talk about it.
So why should you guess and try to speculate about it? It's not lawful for a man to utter. Of such and one will I glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be or that he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was given to me of thorn in the flesh.
Now think about the remarkable experiences that this man had enjoyed. When the Lord first spoke to him, he was on the road to Damascus going to persecute the church. And the Lord spoke to him, by name Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And his response was, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I'm Jesus whom thou persecutest.
And then he says, what wilt thou have me to do? Now if you had had that kind of an experience, do you think there might be a little tendency to become boastful? You'd hear somebody tell their experience that it wasn't nearly as glowing as yours. Didn't quite compare, you'd begin to feel, I've had the most spectacular experience of anybody. I'm on terms of the Lord that nobody else enjoys. Well, Paul certainly in his flesh had some tendencies toward Phariseeism because he had been a Pharisee. And he might well have began to glory in this. And then if that wasn't enough to be caught up into heaven, and things revealed that he couldn't even speak about, he began to feel like I'm top on the list in God's family.
I've had things happen to me that other people hadn't even thought about. The Lord said, I'm not going to have that. The fact is that God could not have used Paul, He could not use you, He could not use me or anybody else if we are elevated in pride. If we begin to think that our experience and our knowledge and our position is special and above that of other people, He's not going to use us. He uses us when we walk humbly before Him.
So there was a specific purpose for giving Him the thorn in the flesh. The trying circumstances that he faced, the pain, the great difficulties were not out of God's control but within the scope of His grace and His love. Look back at the preceding chapter for just a little reminder of some of the things that Paul suffered.
Verse 24, Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. How many times a person will say, well, you just don't understand my situation. You don't understand how much I hurt. You don't understand what I have to cope with, what I'm having to deal with in my life. I feel like I can safely say that there's not one of us here today that have ever come close to having the kind of pain that Paul had when he received thirty-nine stripes, a leather strap with pieces of metal in it across his back. It's remarkable that the man survived and he lived to tell the story. Talk about suffering. This man suffered. Thrice was I beaten with rods.
Once was I stoned. Thrice I suffered shipwrecked. A night and a day I have been in the deep, in juryings often, in the perils of the waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils of the city, in perils of the wilderness, in perils of the sea, in perils among false brethren. This man knew what it was to suffer. In weariness and painfulness, in watching too often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting too often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
What a burden he carried. All of these things were within the scope of God's purpose. His love for this chosen servant that he would use so effectively. Philippians chapter 1 verse 29 says, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.
It is given you to suffer. God uses the sufferings of his people to their advantage and to his glory. You see, all things are under the control of our sovereign God.
You may look around at the conditions that exist in the world today and you say, my, it's just utter chaos. You look at the conflicts and the rapid changes that are occurring in our own country and it's disturbing, but none of this is out of God's control. Psalm 115 verse 3 said, But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Whatever pleased the Lord, he has done it. He's not frustrated.
He's not handicapped. He has accomplished his purpose. Psalm 135 verse 6, Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in the seas and in all deep places. So this affliction was not something that just sprung up from nowhere. It was God that gave him the thorn in the flesh that sent the messenger of Satan to buffet him.
But having seen the source of the affliction, let's look at the strength to endure. Paul understandably was praying, Lord, relieve me. He may have reasoned in his mind I could be so much more effective if it was physical pain, if it was sickness, or if it was just the persecution that he was encountering. If it was the trouble within the church where people were questioning his apostleship and accusing him of being greedy and selfish and all of these things, such false accusations.
Oh, how troubling that would be. And Paul might have reasoned, Lord, if you just deliver me from all of that, I could do such a better job. I could be more effective.
I wouldn't be bogged down with this. But God, his Lord and Master, his Heavenly Father knew what was best for him. And so he said, I've given you this thorn in the flesh, but my grace is sufficient. These are the words of Jesus himself to his servant. My grace. This is not just grace as a doctrine that you find in the systematic theology. Jesus says this is my grace. My grace is sufficient for thee. Grace is such a marvelous theme. It's a word that's not even found in the pagan religions. The false gods that men have devised in their own minds usually were cruel and harsh. And the whole concept of grace was unknown. But the word is used over 150 times in the Bible.
And certainly emphasis is put upon it. My grace is sufficient. And we think back to God's purposes even before the foundation of the world. We can't help but think of electing grace. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5 and 6, having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the pleasure of his will to the praise of what? The glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. You can't talk about the covenant.
You can't talk about election and predestination. You can't talk about the purposes of God without talking about grace. It's according to his grace that he made choice of a people and gave them to his son electing grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! Our loss was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see. God's grace is a marvelous thing. And we have observed in our text that the Apostle Paul found God's grace to be sufficient in a time of great difficulty. So as we think about this grace, the strength that God has given us to endure, we think about that grace that was treasured up for us even in the covenant from before the foundation of the world. And may we ever rejoice in God's sovereign, saving, amazing grace. Till next week at the same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. God be saved thus far, and grace will lead me home. When we've been there ten thousand years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's grace Than when we first begun.
